Tomboy
by Calliope Faye
Summary: A fiery teenage girl named Rina, who is not as fearless as she seems, learns the truth about herself...Why she has no last name...why she is haunted by nightmares every night...and why she fears trust...
1. Meet Rina

"No! Stop! Mommy! Daddy!"  
  
I felt myself being shaken awake with the names and faces echoing in my head. It was Gwen, my best friend. Um.Maybe I should explain more. My name is Rina. I'm 16 right now, but at the time this story began, I was fourteen. I have long red hair, brown eyes, and freckles. Gwen, as I said, is my best friend. I don't know why we clicked so well. I mean, we're total opposites! But we did. I'd known her for as long as I could remember, since the day I came to the foster home. We grew up together, until about a year before, when Gwen was adopted. Anyway, Gwen's the kind of girl who gets straight A's. She's into poetry, art, and music. I like music too, but I'm more of the athletic type. I run track, play football, hockey, tennis, volleyball, and of course, my all-time favorite: basketball. And take my word for it.when they dubbed me the "Tomboy with 'Tude," they knew what they were talking about. Basically, here are the three most important rules to survival when you're around me: 1-Don't ever call me Red or Freckles. 2-Don't say the name "Magneto" around me. 3- Don't mess with my friends. Break any of those rules, and I have a tendency to go berserk.  
  
Anyway, back to the story.I felt myself being shaken awake. It was Gwen, my best friend. "Rina, are you okay? You were screaming like a banshee! Bad dream?"  
  
"Yeah," I said. My dreams were one of the few things that I didn't even share with Gwen. "Hey.what are you doing here, anyway?"  
  
"My new mom and dad.God, I love those words! Sorry.my new mom and dad drove me over to say hi to all my old friends. This is so much better than the phone conversations, isn't it?"  
  
"Yeah," I wasn't jealous of her or anything. Just because I was considered "unadoptable" and she had this really great new family didn't mean I was jealous. I was happy for her! Really! But in case you're wondering, I was "unadoptable" for two reasons. The first was that I was too old. People usually didn't want to adopt a 14-year-old. The second reason was that I had an attitude, and that was fine with me. If they had a problem with my attitude, tough. They're not the kind of family I'd want anyway.  
  
At least, that's what I tried to convince myself, but it wasn't enough to keep the tears back at night. I mean, at least the other kids at the foster home knew a little about their past. I just walked out of the woods one day, according to Jade. She ran the foster home, and she said that there was no indication of who I was or who my parents were, except for a little necklace I was wearing with the name "Katrina" on it. People started calling me Rina once they got to know me, but the circumstances of how I ended up in the foster home was kept between me, Jade, and the state. No one knew anything about me, and no one had the guts to come up to me and ask, because I am not ashamed to say that I tend to let my anger take control once in a while.  
  
"So what's been going on in your world, Rina?" asked Gwen.  
  
I shot her a glare, and said, "You lived here for ten years. What do you think?"  
  
She laughed a little. "Don't worry, Red. You'll get out of here soon enough."  
  
She's just lucky that she was Gwen, because if she was anyone else, I'd have knocked her clear across the room. "Why would I want to get out? I have a reputation here. I may not be too popular with the girls, but I get along all right with the boys next door."  
  
Gwen cracked a smile. "Of course you do! You fit right in with them because you could batter any one of them senseless if you wanted to. That's how boys associate with one another."  
  
"Well if you'll excuse me, Gwen, I have to get dressed, because I'm playing basketball with the guys today."  
  
"Typical," she sighed, walking out of the room.  
  
I pulled on my red shorts and my red-and-yellow basketball jersey. Red and yellow were my favorite colors, and it even had my lucky number on it: 14. I wore it for luck in the basketball game that day, but I had no idea just how much luck it'd bring me. 


	2. Flashback

As I stepped out of the room, Gwen grabbed my arm (another little pet peeve of mine that I'd have slaughtered anyone else for). "You're going out in public like that?"  
  
"What? You got a problem with my lucky jersey?"  
  
"Well, I'm not too fond of that either, but I was talking about your hair! It's a mess! C'mon, Rina! You've got such great hair! Do something with it!" Trust a cheerleader to point out something like that, and make it her solemn vow to fix it for you.  
  
"Ouch! Watch it, will, you? That's attached to my head, you know?"  
  
"Oh, don't be such a baby! There! All done! And you look great!" She held up a mirror.  
  
I did everything in my power to keep myself from screaming. She had braided my hair! I looked like a little pansy or whatever you call those little girl scouts! I reached up and clawed it out with my fingers. "Don't ever do that to me again!" We reached a compromise and left it up in a ponytail.  
  
We headed out of the building and across the street. I was old enough to come and go as I pleased, as long as I was back before 7:30, and didn't go out before 8:00. The boys were outside waiting for me when Gwen and I showed up.  
  
"Hey, Rina! Who's your friend?" called Randy. He sounded less than thrilled. The boys didn't know Gwen because I wasn't allowed out of the foster home unsupervised until after she had found her family. Alison and Roy were great parents from what she told me, and even though she said Ellen was annoying, what I wouldn't do for a big sister, or even better, a big brother.  
  
"Hey guys! This is Gwen."  
  
Gwen looked at the expressions on their faces, which seemed to say Oh man! Another girl! and said, "I'm just here to watch." Still, they'd have let her play if she wanted to, unless they wanted a fat lip. Now you're starting to see how I deal with people, huh? But that's the only reason I'm allowed to play with these guys.  
  
About a year before then, on the day after Gwen found a permanent home, I was kind of lonely. She was the only one in the foster home who had ever really appreciated me. She was really popular, but I was an outcast. I liked it that way, but naturally, after she left, I got lonely. I needed to make new friends, and Jade realized that. She, as a fellow tomboy, also had a slight understanding of how I functioned. It wasn't much of one, but it was not enough to know that I needed something to do, which would be virtually impossible with the girls there. So she started letting me go out.  
  
The first time I ever left the building alone, I could almost smell freedom in the air. I wished Gwen was there with me, but that couldn't be helped. I saw some boys playing basketball through a fence across the street, and slipped through a hole in it. Once I was inside, I leaned against the fence and watched for a few minutes before they noticed me. They walked over to me, looking tough. "What do you want, Girly?" asked Randy, their leader.  
  
"Mind if I play?" I asked with mock-courtesty.  
  
"Yeah we mind."  
  
"Why's that?"  
  
"Because, Chicki, you're a girl, not to mention a short one, and girls can't handle this court."  
  
"Yeah! I bet you'd get fouled once and run home crying to your mommy!" They all broke out into hysterical laughter.  
  
Now it was personal! "Oh really? Try me." I was seriously fighting the urge to break one of their bones. I had never really talked to a boy before because I'd been in a foster home for girls for so long. I didn't realize that boys liked having their faces remodeled.  
  
"Okay, Punk," said Randy. He was the one who called me Chicki before, too. This guy was really cruisin' for a bruisin'! "You and me. One-on-one. First-to-five. So what kind of handicap do you want?"  
  
I just met him with a cold, hard stare. "I'll spot you four."  
  
He guffawed. "Do you even know what that means?"  
  
"Of course I do. It means that the score at the beginning of the game is 4:0 your favor. It means that you only have to score once to win. I have to score five times."  
  
He shrugged and gave me an arrogant half-smile. "Alright, Squirt. If that's what you want. You take first out. That means you get the ball first." I vowed right then that I'd wipe that smirk right off his face!  
  
The first thing I did was a fancy little whirling maneuver I taught myself in the gym. I got right past him and slam-dunked it. He just stared wide- eyed, and I decided to rub it in a little. I winked at him and said, "Your ball, Big Boy."  
  
He was still in shock when he started dribbling, so it was no problem at all for me to take it from him. One quick swipe, and I was on my way down the court, and finished up in a nice, well-formed lay-up. I snapped him out of it with one of the little retorts that I was famous for. "Come on! The whole reason I gave you this handicap was so that it'd be more challenging!"  
  
After that, it was a little more of a challenge. It tends to be once your opponent wakes up. He started taking the ball and shooting. But he just couldn't get it past me. Gradually, I gained more respect for him as he progressively forgot that I was a girl, and started treating me like any other opponent.  
  
Then the score was four to four. He had the ball, but I was ready. I stole it, and was about to make the shot, when I felt something hit my shins. He had tripped me! I fell flat on my face, and he scored the winning basket.  
  
"Hey! What gives?" I demanded as I stood up and dusted myself off.  
  
"Well, well, well," he said, "Looks like Little-Miss-Carrot-Top isn't as good as she thinks she is. I give you credit for not crying, Freckles, but why don't you go home and crochet with your mom like all the other.oof!" I didn't let him finish. I just snapped. It took almost no time for my fist to find his stomach, and I don't deny that I enjoyed it very much.  
  
The next thing I knew, we were rolling around on the ground, grappling each other by the shoulders. I had a decent grip on him, but his was better and we both knew it. So I released him, and slugged him in the face so that he'd let go. It worked, and I did a backward roll to get out of his range, and from there I sprang to my feet.  
  
"Had enough, Red?" I took up a fighting stance and beckoned, Matrix style as if to say, "bring it on." He charged at me, but he was far enough away for me to prepare. That was only his first mistake. He was going to try and do the wrestling thing again, and so he had his hand way out in front of him. I grabbed it, and gave it a good yank. He went sailing over my shoulder and landed on his back on the ground.  
  
"My name's Rina. Get it right, Funnyboy!" And from that point on, I've been one of the guys. 


	3. A Day Long Awaited

So anyway, while we were playing, that day that Gwen was with us, Jade was talking to Connor, the owner of the boys' home, as they watched us play through a window. There was a knock at the door, and Connor opened it to find a man and a woman who were looking to adopt a son. They introduced themselves as Tara and Sean McGrath, and joined our unseen audience.  
  
They asked Connor about all the boys one by one, and after he had described all ten of them, they decided on Randy. They went into another room to start filling out the paperwork, when Tara's curiosity got the better of her and she just had to ask. "I thought that this was a boys' home. Who were those two girls out there?"  
  
"Oh them?" Jade answered, "They're from the girls' home across the street. The brunette is Gwen Stiliano. She was adopted a little over a year ago by Alison and Roy Stiliano. Very nice people. They took her here just for the day to visit her old friends. The other one is Rina."  
  
"Yes, we know Gwen, but Rina? That's it? You're not going to say anything else? Not even a last name?" asked Sean.  
  
"She doesn't have a last name that we know of."  
  
"Why not? I thought everyone had a last name."  
  
"We don't know all that much about her. Only her first name." Jade looked at the befuddled faces, and decided to go a little more into it, "She just wandered out of the woods eleven years ago. All alone. No parents, no birth certificate, only a necklace with the name 'Katrina.' And she was pretty cut up too. They immediately took her to the hospital, and they conducted a huge search for her parents. No response, so they sent her here. No one ever wanted to adopt her either, because she's developed a personality that makes her a parent's worst nightmare, unless you know how to handle her. So the poor thing grew up thinking that she was all alone in the world."  
  
They all looked at each other, totally stunned by my pathetic story. Then they turned back to their paperwork without speaking again for a long while. Even Connor was devastated. He may still have resented me a little for clobbering Randy, but he'd never heard that story before. No one in the world had, so they didn't know how to react.  
  
About ten minutes later, out on the court, I passed the ball and then tried to get open again. Then I heard Jade's voice. "Randy, Rina! C'mere!" There were three people with her: Connor, and two other people whom I didn't know. We called a time out, and Randy and I jogged over. The rest of the boys watched, just waiting to hear what we did wrong now. "Randy, Rina? This is Tara and Sean McGrath. They want to adopt you."  
  
The silence that followed seemed to go on forever. Everyone stared at us expectantly waiting for a reaction, and Sean and Tara threw us "friendly" smiles to ease the tension, but it didn't help. I felt the thirteen pairs of eyes on me. Their intense energy heated my body making me perspire and turn tomato-red. There was a lump in my throat and I had trouble breathing. Subconsciously, I placed one foot behind me, and as soon as I heard the faint sound of my sneaker hitting the pavement, the other foot followed. I backed away slowly. Tara reached out to me, but in my trance, I had let my body take break free of my mind and take control of itself. It turned and ran away, as fast as it could: So fast that I felt my ponytail go straight back in the wind.  
  
It was almost like I was possessed. I guess I kind of was. I wasn't in control of myself. I didn't know where I was going, but my feet did. "Rina, wait," someone called, but it did them no good. I wasn't about to come back, and they were in as much shock as I was: Far too much to follow me.  
  
I started running out of breath after about two minutes, and ducked into an alley to sit down. I just sat there, totally dazed for about ten minutes that seemed like ten seconds. I was drowning in my own thoughts. Thoughts like, "Why did I run away?" "Finally! I'm getting what I've always wanted!" "What about the boys?" "Wow! What a big change!" "What do I say to that?" and "Oh man! I shouldn't have run! What'll they think of me now?" But the biggest one that came through my head over and over was the two-word question, "Why me?"  
  
"Rina?" I heard someone say, "I thought I heard someone back here." I looked up and saw Randy and Gwen walking toward me.  
  
"Don't scare me like that!"  
  
"Woah! Chill out girl," said Gwen, "How are you doing?"  
  
"How does it look like I'm doing?"  
  
"Don't be so grumpy! Sheesh!" said Randy, "Why'd you run like that?"  
  
"You want the honest truth, I don't know. I'm just confused I guess."  
  
"About Mr. and Mrs. McGrath?"  
  
"Yeah. I mean, this is what I've been wishing for eleven years, and now that it's coming true, I don't know if it really is what I want."  
  
Gwen put her hand under my chin and gently lifted it so that I was looking at her. "Rina, I was the same way. I didn't know what to think when I met the Stilianos. But then I decided to go for it, and look how well everything worked out. I mean sure, Ellen's there, but hey, you can't have everything. Trust me. I know Mr. and Mrs. McGrath."  
  
"Oh great! And I'll bet they said they don't want me anymore, huh?"  
  
Randy shook his head vigorously. "No way! They still want to adopt both of us. And take it from both of us," he gestured toward Gwen, "We both know what it's like to have parents. I had them up until about five years ago when they were killed in a car crash, and there's nothing in the world better than parents. I'm just sorry that it took me this long to realize it."  
  
"Think it over, okay Rina? We've been best buds since before I can remember, and I just want to be sure that you've made the choice that'll make you the happiest. Let us know when you decide. Take as long as you need. Because when you're ready, Jade, Randy, the McGraths, and I will be there for you."  
  
"But when you do decide, don't do it for us or the McGraths. Do it for yourself. We'd better be going. I hope we'll see you later." And with that, they left me in the alley. Then I knew what I wanted to do, and one little tear, the first one I'd cried since I was four, slid down my cheek.  
  
I heard a voice above me, and looked up to see a repulsive guy sitting on a windowsill about twenty feet up. "Aww.Ain't that sweet?"  
  
"Hey, you! What do you think you're doing? Either et down here any explain to me why you're spying on me, and maybe end up with a chipped tooth or a bloody nose, or do what a sensible person who values there life would do and beat it!"  
  
"Touchy, touchy!" he said, "I see I'm not welcome here, so I'll just leave. See ya later, Champ!" Then he jumped from the windowsill and onto a rooftop, where I lost sight of him.  
  
"Oookay then," I muttered as I started walking off, "That was just slightly freaky." 


	4. The Fire

Randy and I packed our things that night, and went home with the McGraths early the next morning. They had two daughters, Carly and Anna. Carly was a year older than me, and Anna two years younger.  
  
Randy and I got along the same as we always did. We cooperated with each other and even though he was my stepbrother, we still got along like the friends we had always been. We tried to avoid arguments with Carly and Anna, but sometimes it couldn't be helped. We also took extra care in helping out around the house and doing as we were told, because we were content there, and we didn't want to blow it and get sent back into foster care.  
  
We paid visits to our friends at the foster home a lot. And guess what? As luck would have it, the McGraths were the Stilianos' next-door neighbors. That was how Gwen knew my new family. So the three of us hung out together every day. That is, until about two years later when my whole life changed forever.again.  
  
Randy, Gwen and I all went to the same school, got decent grades, and were all accepted pretty readily by different social groups. Randy and I were both on the varsity basketball team, but I was the only girl. Gwen was a cheerleader. So we all went to the basketball games together. Although we couldn't have pep talks in the locker room because there was a girl on the team, so we met in the office.  
  
One night, I was taking my laundry upstairs after it was washed, and I felt my nose start to tingle. Darn allergies! I tried to stop it, but you know how these things are. "AH-CHOO!"  
  
The next thing I knew, the smoke alarm was going off, and the house was burning down. I screamed "Fire, fire," as I ran down the stairs and out the back door. In a minute, the rest of my family was outside with me, watching it. The emergency squad started to arrive just as I heard Carly say, "Oh no! Where's Anna?"  
  
A firefighter came up to us and started feeding us the "We'll-have-her-out- any-second" line. Yeah right! Like I was going to just stand around and trust my sister's life to a "should-be." A crowd started to accumulate, but I forced my way through them, ignoring the dozens of voices and arms trying to stop me. A firefighter grabbed my shoulder, but I twisted away and ran back into the house.  
  
Once inside, I had my mind so set on finding Anna that I hardly even noticed the smoke and the flames. The only thing that got my attention at all was when a part of the ceiling collapsed and fell six inches away from me. My heart must have skipped at least three beats when that happened! I felt a pain in my chest and I seriously thought I was having a heart attack, but it passed momentarily. "Woah," I commented, "That wasn't cool. Okay, let's not have any more scares like that." I decided that I didn't have time to stop and catch my breath if I was going to get Anna out in time, despite the fact that my heart was going even faster than I was.  
  
It took me a while to find her, and when I did, she was unconscious and her shoelace was stuck on the bedpost. Don't ask me how. It's just one of those things that only Anna can manage.  
  
I was in there for about ten minutes before I got her unstuck and came back out again carrying her in my arms. The instant I came out, I was swamped with news reporters and curious observers. They crowded around me so I could hardly move. They screamed at the top of their lungs trying to get me to answer their questions. I wanted to say, "Very nice microphones. Now please don't shove them up my nose," but I decided to be polite about it. "Please back up. She needs space! She needs more breathing room!" No one listened, so I had to get tough. I inhaled deeply until I thought my lungs would pop, and screamed as loud as I possibly could. "EVERYBODY, COOL IT!!!!" Everyone fell totally silent and stared at me. The ambulance squad worked their way through the crowd and took Anna from me. She was hurt pretty badly.  
  
As soon as she was in the truck, I realized that all the eyes never left me. "Thank you! Excuse me!" They all cleared a path for me to get through to my family. As I started walking, I started feeling very self- conscious. Who wouldn't, with a huge crowd of people staring at them, making way for them, whispering to each other and pointing at them, and they don't know why? It was really freaky.  
  
Gwen was standing with Carly, Randy, Mr. and Mrs. McGrath. All five of them were crying. I mean really crying as in bawling their eyes out! I approached them slowly and they all came up to me and hugged me. It was very strange! I had never really been hugged before, at least not like this, so I was not sure what to do. I just stood there in as much awe as them. Then we turned back to the house, and watched. 


	5. Celebrity

Carly had a friend she could stay with, and Anna would be at the hospital for a while, so Randy, Mr. and Mrs. McGrath and I were staying next door with the Stilianos. Randy got Ellen's room, and my parents slept on the couch in the living room. So that meant that Ellen, Gwen and I were squeezed into Gwen's room. It was certainly an experience because I'd shared a room all my life, but Gwen hadn't for the past three years, and Ellen never had. It was amusing listening to their bickering, but once they fell asleep, I found myself all alone.  
  
I couldn't sleep. I had just watched virtually everything I had go up in flames, almost including my sister. What bothered me most were the faces. I couldn't get them out of my head. Why had everyone been staring at me like that? I hadn't done anything that no one else there would've done, had I? Did they mean to tell me that I was the only one out of those fifty or so people with the guts to do what I did? No one else would go a little out of their way to save the life of a family member?  
  
Eventually, I drifted off to sleep, and had the same dream I had every night since I arrived at the foster home, but could never quite remember. It was the one with my parents, and some guy named Magneto. That was all I ever remembered. I don't know how, but I know that Magneto was responsible for my life. It was his fault, somehow, that I had been put in the foster home with no hint of my life before that. So even though I didn't know him, I knew that I hated him.  
  
The next morning, I woke up screaming, only half from the dream. It was partially because I heard a rooster, which was really weird in the suburbs. It scared me because I usually woke up to the radio when it's time to wake up.  
  
Gwen stretched and looked at me. "C'mon Rina! Can't you just once wake up without screaming your head off?"  
  
"What the heck is that?"  
  
"My alarm clock. Like it?"  
  
"Gwen," I paused to think of what to say, "Only you."  
  
We all got dressed and brushed our teeth, and did all the usual morning stuff, and then realized that we were about to miss the bus, so we ran downstairs and each grabbed a bagel as we ran through the kitchen. My mom and Mrs. Stiliano were sitting in the living room talking to some pretty strange-looking guests, but I was too late to worry about it.  
  
"Rina, wait a minute!" said my mom.  
  
"Sorry, mom. Don't want to be late for school. Bye!" and I was out the door before she could say another word. We only just caught the bus. I was kind of glad I didn't wait to see what Mom wanted, but I was a little curious now that I wasn't in one of those "Uh-oh-I'm-going-to-be-late" frenzies. Oh well.  
  
I started dreading what the day at school was going be like that day. I was willing to bet that everyone in the school knew about the fire, and would be on my case all day about it.  
  
The bus pulled up in front of the school, and I got off, went to my locker, went to homeroom, all that stuff. In homeroom, my teacher, Miss Shannon held up the morning paper and made an announcement. "It looks like we have a celebrity in our class."  
  
She passed the paper around, and everyone looked at me as they saw it. When it got to me, my eyes went wide when I saw it. It was a picture of me coming out of the burning building with Anna in my arms. The headline was "GIRL HERO: Local girl saves sister from burning building."  
  
Someone read the entire article over the announcements. I was so embarrassed! Everyone probably thought that I was a psycho, even though they were all being nice and congratulating me. I wished everyone would stop making such a fuss over me. It wasn't that big a deal. Okay so it was, but it didn't need to be as big as everyone was making it.  
  
We even had an assembly about it. They went over all these fire safety rules, like "never go back into a burning building." I felt my face flush, and then at the end of the assembly, they called me up to the podium and gave me a plaque. I didn't bother to read it. They made me answer a lot of questions that the faculty, student body, and firemen had for me. I answered all of them, but the only one that sticks in my mind to this day came from a boy named Jared. "How could you have been in there for ten minutes and not have gotten burned or anything?" It was also the only one I couldn't answer.  
  
When the assembly finally ended, I walked out of the auditorium and across the hall to the gym. Gym was by far my favorite class. And the one I was best at. I could do football, gymnastics, track, soccer, and basically anything that wasn't volleyball or swimming. But that wasn't just any gym period. I was just glad that we happened to be doing gymnastics that day!  
  
I was the first one out of the auditorium, and I thought that I was the first in the gym. I walked in, and the door slammed shut behind me. I jumped nearly out of my skin, and turned around to look. A huge metal bar fell across the door with a loud bang. I tried to move it, but it was too heavy. I couldn't get out, and no one could get in. It was useless, so I decided to do what I did in the fire: Stay calm, and look for another way out. I took a deep breath to keep from panicking, but the attempt became futile the moment I turned around.  
  
In the gym were about 20 or so people, all looking at me with weird expressions. Some were more normal-looking than others, but they were all freaky. There was one in the middle who was sort of hovering above the others in black armor and a red-and-purple helmet and cape. He seemed to be the one in charge. "Hello there," he said. 


	6. Strangers

In the next half of a second, I noticed a lot of things. The gymnastics equipment that was set up brought itself to my attention. My gaze shifted to the window, which was about twenty feet up, to the blue woman and the big, ugly, hairy guy coming at me. I thought it out in the blink of an eye. It was a long shot, but it looked like I was going to have to give it a try. I didn't exactly feel like sticking around to see what these people wanted from me.  
  
I took off and ran at my very fastest right between the two people. The guy made a grab for me but missed. I ran along the mats, occasionally doing a round-off, cartwheel, or walkover for extra momentum. I landed on the springboard, and launched myself over the vault. I became airborne and soared right over everyone. I stretched my arms out and grabbed a hold of the rings, which were not supposed to be in use so they were still pretty high.  
  
One of the people on the ground got an idea. He seemed awfully familiar for some reason. So did a few of the others. He has green hair and had an uncommonly foul odor. His tongue was kind of like a frog's tongue. He stuck it out and faster than my eyes could follow, and stuck it onto the rings. It was so gross! I mean, it was slimier than most tongues, and it was green, not to mention it was really long. I didn't want to touch it, so I took a pencil out of my pocket, (don't ask me why it was there) and started to pry it off. Eventually, I got it off, and it snapped back into his mouth, and sent him flying backwards. Unfortunately, I never got the pencil back because it stuck to his tongue. I have to admit though, it was funny because it hit him in the face and left a huge red mark.  
  
The rings started swinging, so I pulled myself up so that I was hanging from the ceiling panels and worked my way over to the rope, which was not set up either, so they couldn't just climb up. I had never been more terrified than I was then. The leader in the helmet and cape was flying toward me, and as for the rest of them, I had no clue what they were capable of, and how to deal with them. Not to mention the fact that I was loosing my grip! I don't know which was more unpleasant: The rope-burn that I could feel myself getting, or the feeling that my stomach was up in my throat.  
  
A boy down below stomped his foot and his eyes rolled back in his head. At first, I didn't know what he was doing, but then when the gym started shaking and bits of the ceiling started raining down on me, I pretty much figured it out.  
  
I struggled to hold on. Several times I had to renew my grip, and each time I almost fell. Another guy, who was incredibly tall, and about twice as big around as he was tall, moved under me. He jumped, and made a grab for me, but missed. When he came down, the gym shook even more.  
  
Suddenly, someone started banging on the door and everyone in the gym stopped and looked. I heard Gwen's voice yelling, "Rina, what the Heck are you doing in there? Come on! Get out! They're evacuating the entire school!" I took advantage of the distraction, and not responding to Gwen's shouts, I snuck out the window, which I was then near enough to, and when the freaks turned back, I was gone.  
  
The big fat guy made the mistake of being the first to try to follow me through, and got stuck in the window. I tried to stifle it, honest, but it was just so funny that I burst out laughing. I wrote down the phone number for a trainer and stuck it between his teeth before I left.  
  
I don't know how I knew, but Gwen was still inside trying to get me out of the gym. I thought to her, come on, Gwen. I'm out. You can leave now. A few moments later, Gwen came rushing out and ran up to me.  
  
"Rina? How did you do that?"  
  
"What the earthquakes? I didn't do that!"  
  
"No, I mean you spoke in my head. How?"  
  
"I did?"  
  
"Yes, you did. You said 'Come on, Gwen. I'm out. You can leave now.'"  
  
I was stunned. Had she really heard me? I'd thought it was coincidence that she happened to come out when she did, but now I was out of explanations. It couldn't be luck. It couldn't be coincidence. It couldn't be a dream. Something was going on with me. I just couldn't tell what. 


	7. The First Secret

Just then, I heard a familiar voice in my head echoing my own thoughts. What's going on with me? I looked at Gwen, who seemed to be thinking just that. She looked just as surprised as I'm sure I did. Whatever was going on with me, could it be happening to her too?  
  
We walked home in awkward silence. Both of us glanced up startled now and then. I kept thinking that I heard her thoughts again, but I guessed it was just my imagination. I'm assuming that when she looked up, I'm assuming it was for the same reason.  
  
We got back to Gwen's house and went upstairs to our room. Ellen was out somewhere, so we had privacy. "Gwen? What's going on?"  
  
"Wh.What do you mean?"  
  
"C'mon, Gwen! Weird things have been happening to me, and I know they've been happening to you too. So why don't you tell me what's been happening, and we'll try and figure this out together. In fact, even better, don't tell me. Just think it. I want to try something."  
  
Sure enough, I heard Gwen's voice inside my head. Let's see.first, on my way to school the other day I slipped and fell on some.  
  
Gwen! I interrupted, I heard you! I think I've figured out part of this! Gwen! We've got a telepathic link! But I didn't think there was any such thing!  
  
Neither did I, she thought, As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, I slipped and fell on some ice on the way to school a few days ago. It was really weird. I was running to the bus stop, when all of a sudden, there was an icy patch in front of me. I couldn't stop, and I just fell.  
  
But it's in the middle of June! How could you have fallen on ice? Are you sure it wasn't loose pebbles or something?  
  
Rina, it was ice. I saw it, and I sure as heck felt it! Besides, how could you have been inside a burning building for ten minutes and come out completely unharmed?  
  
I thought it was luck, but I'm beginning to doubt it. I mean, what with what happened in the gym and all.  
  
What did happen in the gym, Rina?  
  
Well.It's a long story.  
  
Rina, if you don't tell me, we can't figure this out.  
  
  
  
Okay.here goes.  
  
I remembered what happened in the gym in as much detail as I could remember, and replayed the scene in my mind and Gwen's. When I was finally done, Gwen was speechless for a long minute. I was getting a few of her thoughts, but they came across as a jumble of words and a giant mass of confusion. Finally, she got her thoughts together. It was a good thing to, because she was starting to give me a headache!  
  
  
  
Wow! Do you have any idea who those guys were?  
  
Not a clue.  
  
Any idea what they wanted?  
  
Come on, Gwen! How should I know who they were or what they wanted? Did you honestly expect me to stick around long enough to find out?  
  
Okay, okay, Rina! Chill! I was just asking! Relax. Now let's take a deep breath, and we both inhaled slowly until our lungs couldn't hold any more air, and let it out gradually. We did the same thing a few more times, and then resumed the conversation. Okay. And we need to keep our heads. We've determined that we're not dreaming, so this is real, and very, very weird, so we'll need to be open-minded. Okay.I slipped on ice in the middle of June. You weren't even singed when you came out of your house the other day. We've suddenly developed this telepathic link.Well.there's a very logical explanation for all this.  
  
And that would be.?  
  
Hey! I said there was a logical explanation. I never said I knew what that logical explanation was! Cut me a break! I'm as new at this as you are!  
  
Gwen was right. She knew a lot about science. She wasn't a genius, but she knew enough to get good grades in the class, and we both knew that behind everything is a scientific explanation. But we didn't know what it was, and that bothered me!  
  
Gwen? I thought.  
  
  
  
Yeah?  
  
Let's keep this between us, okay?  
  
Why?  
  
Well, you heard what I was thinking about a scientific explanation, right?  
  
Yeah.  
  
Well, we can't think of a scientific explanation, and I seriously doubt the doctors are going to have one either. And when the scientists can't think of a complete explanation for something.  
  
They do experiments, she finished for me, You're right. We have to keep this a secret. Deal?  
  
Deal! And with that, we shook hands and agreed that no one needed to know about the ice patch, or the incident in the gym, or the telepathic link. The whole town already knew about the fire, which might complicate things, but we'd still try to keeps this whole thing quiet. We didn't even tell Randy. 


	8. Suspicion

School was canceled for the rest of the week, but we got a call from Coach Jennings that the basketball game scheduled for Saturday was still on, since it was an away game. Everyone around the house kept commenting that Gwen and I had been awfully quiet as of late, and it was really getting annoying. Every time someone said something, we snapped at them and told them that we were fine. I guess we were both a little irritable, but cut us some slack! After all that'd happened to us that week, you'd be a bit snappy too!  
  
Not too many weird things happened between then and Saturday. Well, I mean aside from the telepathic link that Gwen and I had developed, and Randy had been giving us a lot of funny looks, but that was about it. We didn't run into any more freaky people or anything, and I started to relax. But when I told that to Gwen, well...  
  
Hey, Gwen! We haven't run into any weird people as of late. Do you think they gave up?  
  
Maybe...She sounded very uneasy.  
  
Is something wrong?  
  
Yeah, Rina. Something is.  
  
What?  
  
Just that. People who go through the amount of trouble that those people in the gym went through to get to someone tend to want something. And people who want something have a nasty little habbit of coming back. The fact that they haven't is what's bothering me. It's like in the movies when they say, "I don't like it. It's quiet...too quiet," and then a monster or something jumps out at them from behind. They're probably waiting for the right moment.  
  
Oh c'mon Gwen! Don't be so paranoid! They're not coming back!  
  
Rina, I'm serious! You're my best friend. If something happened to you...  
  
Okay, okay! I get the point!  
  
Rina, just promise me you'll be careful.  
  
Yes, mother. 


	9. The Touch

Come Saturday, Randy, Gwen and I were all getting ready for the big game. It was our team, "The Flares," against our savage rival team, "The Hawks." Randy and I got into our jerseys. It was just like my old lucky jersey, just with a different team name. It was red and yellow with the number fourteen. When Gwen was dressed in her red and yellow cheerleading outfit, she came out of the bathroom whining. "These are so not my colors!"  
  
"Cry me a river, build me a bridge, and get over it!" I said, and turned to Randy, "Honestly Randy, aren't those cheerleaders, like, soo annoying?" Randy and I always teased Gwen about being a cheerleader. We'd always say stuff about cheerleaders using valley-girl voices and acting air-headed and ditsy.  
  
"Yeah I know! They're always, like, complaining about their hair, or, like, their clothes, or, like, smudged make-up or, like, getting lipstick on their teeth, or, like, having split ends, or even, like," He gasped sarcasticly, "broken nails and chipped nailpolish!"  
  
"Like, tell me about it! They are sooo, like, totally air-headed!"  
  
Gwen punched my shoulder playfully. "Well, like...at least we can spell! Those basketball players are all, like, all brawn and no brain."  
  
I laughed. "Wow! that's, like, totally amazing! The cheerleaders can, like, spell the word 'go!'" I snatched Gwen's pom-poms and immitated one of the cheerleaders doing one of the cheers for out team, motions and everything, with mock enthusiasm. "G-O, go! Go Flares GO! G-O, go! Go Flares GO!"  
  
Gwen reached over and shoved me. I didn't fall over, but when she touched me, there was a hissing noise and steam rose from where she touched me and we both yelled out in pain. I felt like I had just touched dry ice, only fifty times colder.  
  
I looked at Gwen in shock. Are you okay? I asked, telepathically so Randy wouldn't hear.  
  
I'll be okay, but I burned my hand.  
  
You burned your hand? On what?  
  
On.On you!  
  
  
  
But you couldn't have.  
  
Before I could finish, Randy interrupted. "Guys? What just happened?"  
  
"I.I don't know." I said. Well it was true! 


	10. The Big Game

We got in the car and Mrs. Stiliano drove us to the game. None of our parents could stay for the game, because they all had other things to do. That was okay, though. I mean, they rarely missed games, so we could let them slide with missing one or two every once in a while.  
  
"Thanks for the ride, Mrs. Stiliano," I said as we climbed out of the car.  
  
"No trouble at all, Rina. Have fun, kids!" Then she drove away. We went inside together and made our way to the gym. It was really crowded in the hallway, but we managed to get through the crowd with a lot of "Excuse me"s and "Sorry sir"s, and we still managed to get there on time.  
  
Randy and I waved as Gwen went with the cheerleaders and we wished each other good luck. I tried to listen as the coach gave us a pep talk, but I couldn't focus. I even forgot about all the weird things that had been happening. I was too busy thinking about the game. I was already getting an adrenaline rush and we hadn't even started yet! The Griffins, whom we were about to take on, were the only team in the county that gave us a decent challenge. In fact, they had won the last three games we played against them. Not by much, mind you, but they'd won. This time, we were going to put an end to that if it was the last thing we did! They were our rival team, and we had practiced thrice a week and worked our butts off to prepare for this game, and there was no way we were going to lose!  
  
Randy, being the tallest on the team, did the jump-off, but he lost it. It went to the Griffins' left wing. Fortunately, I was playing right wing, and snatched it away as soon as he started dribbling. You see, he had done one of the worst things anyone could possibly do, besides breaking one of my "rules." He had underestimated me. So had everyone else on the court. It probably had something to do with the fact that I was the only girl on the court. But I'd show them!  
  
As the game progress, no one was winning or loosing. It was a very close game! Right up until the last quarter! This score was tied: 8 to 8. There were 13 seconds left. Randy passed me the ball, and I started down the court, since I had no one to pass to, and decided to go for a lay-up.  
  
No one got in my way, but I stopped anyway. I just, sort of, froze when I saw what was happening. There was smoke coming from my hands, and my nostrils filled with the smell of burning rubber. I saw the ball beginning to char where my fingers were touching it, and my skin began to glow, like embers in the bottom of someone's fireplace.  
  
So then I did what just about anyone else would do in my place: I panicked. I wanted to get out of there. I wanted to get rid of the ball and run for my life! I threw the ball to the first person on my team that I saw (who just happened to be Randy) and bolted!  
  
All the observers stood up, and strained their eyes to see what was going on. I heard them whispering and shouting all the way down the hall. "What's going on?" "Where's she going?" "Rina, wait!" "She's on FIRE!" There was mass confusion in the gym as everyone tried to follow me at once.  
  
Randy kept looking from the door that I'd just run out of, to the ball and back again. The ball had burned spots in the shape of my hands right where I'd touched it. It was beginning to deflate, too. He dropped it to the ground and took off after me.  
  
Gwen was absolutely terrified when she saw what'd happened! She took one look at the ball Randy had just dropped, and remembered what had happened before we left for the game, when she shoved me. She ran after Randy without any hesitation at all and helped him to look for me.  
  
I knew Gwen was trying to think to me, but I blocked her out. I wanted to get away from everyone. I didn't want people to see me freaking out like this! Especially since I really was on fire. Looking back on it now, I realize that I didn't feel any pain. The fire wasn't hurting me. I was just panicking, and I wanted to get to someplace private so I could figure out how to fix my little dilemma without a whole crowd of panicking people surrounding me.  
  
I flung the doors of the school open and ran into the woods faster than I ever knew I could. They were the same woods that I "walked out of" when I was little. I had never been in there since. I ran through the woods for three whole minutes without stopping. Then I came to a clearing and sat down on a fallen log to catch my breath. I just couldn't run anymore. The flames started to shrink, until eventually it was just a glow.  
  
I was still breathing harder than ever, between being so freaked out and having run for such a long time. While trying to catch my breath and get my thoughts together, I looked around me, to take in my surroundings. Something about this clearing seemed to pierce into my memory, like a splinter. I had been here before.in this very clearing. Something had happened here that had changed my life. It was an eerie feeling. Whatever happened to me here was not a good thing. But it was so long ago that I couldn't remember. 


	11. Meet the X Men

"Rina?" I nearly jumped out of my skin at the familiar voice. "Rina, where are you?" It was Gwen. I couldn't shut her out this time because she wasn't talking in my head. She was yelling for me.  
  
"Yo, Carrottop! Come on out! C'mon, Rina! Was just kidding! I promise if you come out I'll never call you Red or Carrottop again! Please!" I chuckled. As tempting an offer as that was, I didn't think I was in any condition to make a public appearance yet. I was still glowing and worse yet, I was still sobbing. I couldn't let anyone see me doing either of those things!  
  
Unfortunately, quiet as I was being, they found me. The glow kind of gave me away.  
  
"There you are," said Randy, "Are you.Woah! Umm.Have either of you looked in the mirror recently?"  
  
"I know! I'm glowing," I snapped, "Now would be a good time to shut up, Randy." I didn't look up at first, but there was a long awkward silence, and I couldn't help it. I looked up at Randy and saw that he was looking back and forth from me to Gwen. Glancing over at her, I got a huge shock. Her skin was covered in a sheet of ice. Her hair had frozen over and she looked as freaked as I was. Even through telepathy she couldn't make her words come out right. I.er.um..uh.I.Rina? What the.er.what the heck is going on?!  
  
You're asking me because.?  
  
Well, because you're more likely to have a clue than Randy, and he's the only other one around.  
  
We both all of a sudden started cracking up. It wasn't all that funny, but at that moment, we could've used a little humor. Then we stopped laughing as suddenly as we'd started when we saw the look on Randy's face. We had never seen him look so scared before. His mouth was open wider than the Mississippi River, and his eyes were as round as golf balls! "Y.You guys are.are."  
  
I knew what he was trying to say. It hadn't dawned on me before. Gwen either. It was possible. I mean, they could exist, and Gwen and I might be.but we couldn't be! They get treated like dirt.worse than dirt! And I wasn't too keen on running through the mall with an angry mob behind me. I tried to swallow the lump in my throat and keep any sign of fear off my face. Randy and Gwen had seen me upset before, and that was bad enough, but if they saw me as scared as I was and it got around, well, let's just say it'd be really bad for my rep.  
  
Suddenly, we heard a snapping noise behind us, and whirled around at the same time to see who it was. By then, Gwen and I had regained our normal appearances. We saw three kids coming toward us. One was a tall, pretty girl with hair almost as red as mine. The next was a shorter, skinny girl with brown hair pulled back in a ponytail. The last (And least as far as height was concerned) was a boy with long, dark blue hair. Well.long by boys' standards.  
  
They stopped and looked at us. It was really weird, like they recognized us, but we had never seen them before. "Are you Rina McGrath and Gwen Stiliano?" asked the redhead.  
  
"Who wants to know?" said Randy cynically as he stepped between them and us.  
  
"Yeah, who the heck are you and how do you know our names?" I demanded.  
  
All that will be explained, Rina, if you'll just listen to what we have to say, said a voice in my head. It wasn't Gwen. It was a man's voice. Apparently Gwen and Randy had heard it too because they too were looking around for the source of it. The three kids seemed to have heard it, but they didn't seem to find it very strange.  
  
"Who.who said that?" asked Gwen. I didn't have to use telepathy to see that she was really freaked out.  
  
Relax girls. Randy, it's alright. We mean your sister and your friend no harm.  
  
He didn't back off. He stood in front of us protectively and said with a defiant tone in his voice, "Oh yeah? Then why don't you come out where we can see you?!  
  
Suddenly, a translucent image of a man in a wheelchair appeared in front of Randy and the three kids. He looked about forty years old and was as bald as they get. He had a sincere look in his eyes that made him seem easy to trust.  
  
I'm projecting a mental image of myself so that you can see me. Is that better?  
  
Randy didn't answer. We all just stared at him in amazement while the others watched us closely. It was a very awkward feeling. After a long moment of silence, I finally found my tongue. "Who are you?"  
  
My name is Professor Charles Xavier. I run a school for gifted youngsters. These are a few of my students. Jean Grey, he gestured toward the redhead, Kurt Wagner, the boy, and Kitty Pryde, the girl with the ponytail.  
  
They all smiled and waved at us in a friendly way. Even though it wasn't supposed to be, it was creepy because we had no idea who they were and we had just had a bit of a scare a few minutes before. There was another long pause, and then Randy spoke up. Well, sort of. "So.?"  
  
These gifted youngsters all have one thing in common. Do you know what that is? When no one answered, he decided to answer for himself. They're all mutants, like you. 


	12. Attempt At Persuasion

We had all by now figured out that Gwen and I were mutants, but hearing the words aloud still came as a bit of a shock. "Look pal," I snarled, "I don't know why you're here, but I strongly suggest that you leave us alone, or." Please. Rina, I only want to help you. "Oh yeah? Then why don't you find someone who needs to be helped, or better yet, someone who wants to be helped and help them?" I was starting to get really annoyed with him. Rina, you don't understand! You and your friend are in more danger than you realize. If you'll just. "Well maybe we won't just. C'mon guys!" I was so mad that I walked straight through the image of Professor Xavier. Gwen and Randy decided to go around it, though. I shoved my way through Jean, Kurt, and Kitty roughly enough to keep them from stopping us, but not enough to hurt them. As we were walking away, Kurt suddenly appeared in front of us. "Vait a minute! You guys, ze professor only vants to help. You don't understand. Zere is somezing you don't.ow!" I shoved him off the path into a thorn bush and broke into a run. Randy and Gwen were right behind. Then Gwen thought to me as we were running. Rina, they were trying to warn us about something. No kidding. What do you think it was? I don't know, and frankly, I don't care. I just want to get home and forget that we ever saw them. But what if. Shut up, Gwen! "Ow!" I yelped as I fell to the ground. I had run straight into a woman, and I realized I was glowing again. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" said the woman, "Are you alright?" "Fine," I said as I sat up. "My name's Ms Darkholme." She reached down and took my hand and helped me to my feet. "Yeah.nice to meet you. Gotta go. Later!" And with that, I took off running again without looking back. Randy and Gwen too. Ms Darkholme changed. She turned blue and her hair turned orange, and a dark, caped figure appeared behind her. "Well?" asked the figure. "I've found them," said Ms Darkholme without looking back at him. She smirked as she watched us disappear into the distance. 


	13. The Nightmare

By the time the three of us arrived at Gwen's house, we hardly had the breath left to make it up the stairs. We forced our way up to our rooms and flopped down on the beds. We were instantly asleep, and I had the dream again, only this time, I remembered it. I was running through the bushes as fast as my three-year-old legs could carry me. Someone was there running beside me. I didn't know who it was, and I didn't really care. I was too busy trying to catch up with my mommy and daddy. Who were they running from? I saw three people chasing them, but all I remembered was that one was big and hairy, one was a woman, and one was flying.  
  
Mommy and Daddy reached a clearing and turned to face them. Mommy made the big hairy one fly into a tree. Daddy made big vines come alive and squeeze the lady. And there was laughter. The flying man was laughing, and it sent an eerie chill up my spine. Things started flying at my mommy and daddy. I heard Mommy's scream, and Daddy yelled to the flying, laughing man. "You can't get rid of us! No matter what you do, we'll still be here to fight you, Magneto!" And then Mommy and Daddy fell to the ground, badly bruised and bleeding.and dead. I screamed like I had never screamed before in my life. It was a mix of grief, hatred, and rage like you couldn't imagine.  
  
I sat straight up in my bed and heard a shrill screaming voice. It took me a moment to realize that it was my own voice, but when I did, I shut myself up immediately. Gwen and Ellen were kneeling by my bed, looking at me with horrified expressions. I was careful not to let the memory of my dream slip into Gwen's mind. They were pale and looked really worried. I could feel that my face was even paler than theirs were. My eyes were wide, my forehead was clammy, and my whole body was trembling. 


	14. Visiting The Grave

Just as I was catching my breath, Randy burst into the room, with the McGraths and the Stilianos close behind. "What the heck happened?" asked Mr. McGrath. I'd had a hard time calling him Dad before, but now I just couldn't. I tried to answer, but my throat was so dry that no sound came out. Everyone was looking very nervous at this point. Mrs. McGrath came over and felt my forehead. "Rina, dear, you have a terrible fever! Are you alright?"  
  
Randy came over and sat beside me on the bed and put his strong, reassuring hand on my shoulder. "You okay, Squirt?" he asked cautiously. He was the only one who could get away with calling me "Squirt." "You've woken up screaming before, but never like this."  
  
Everyone stared at me, anxiously awaiting an answer. Once I had untied my tongue, I managed to reassure them that it was just a dream and that I'd be okay.  
  
But I wasn't. Now I knew. I knew what I'd thought I wanted to know my whole life. But now that I did, I realized that I didn't want to know after all. I didn't want to know how some psychopathic megamutant had sliced and bludgeoned my mom and dad to death. Not a day has gone by since then without these four horrible words going through my head: "Magneto killed my parents." I hear them whenever I look at the woods. I hear them whenever I'm alone in my room. I hear them whenever someone says the name "Magneto." That's why I don't like it when people say his name.  
  
As soon as all the confusion had died down, everyone went downstairs to eat breakfast. We ate in eerie silence and everyone kept giving me weird looks, particularly Randy and Gwen, since only they knew what'd happened yesterday.  
  
Then there came a knock at the door. Mrs. McGrath went to answer it, and the rest of us watched intently to see who it was. The knock came again after a moment. "Coming," called Mrs. McGrath. She was at the door. We heard the click when she undid the latch. We watched her turn the doorknob and open the door, but we couldn't see who it was.  
  
"Hello. My name is Professor Charles Xavier. Tell me, do Rina McGrath and Gwen Stiliano live here? We'd like to have a word with them. And you, if that's alright." Randy, Gwen, and I exchanged looks of panic. As if on three, we all rose and made a break for the back door.  
  
"Well, yes, they do. Won't you come in? We were just sitting down to breakfast. There's plenty to go a.Sean? Where'd the kids go?"  
  
"Outside, Tara."  
  
The three of us ran as fast and as far as we could, meaning that I made it farther than they did. I ran all the way to the woods. They were the same woods where we had met the professor and his freakazoid students the day before. I sprinted all the way to that very same clearing, and sat on the very same log. I now knew why it seemed so familiar. That was the clearing in my dream. I felt like I had to be there. It was sort of like paying respects to my mom and dad.  
  
Looking around, I spotted some things that I recognized. There was a dead withered vine on the ground, the same one that my father had used to entangle that woman. The fallen log I was sitting on was the one my mom had slammed that man into. I was glad that they had put up a good fight at least. Despite my best efforts, I started crying again. I never used to cry, but now that all this was happening, I was starting to get all wishy- washy, and I didn't like it. I looked behind me. Right there. That had been the spot where they fell. And over there, about thirty feet away was the place where I stood and watched. Why didn't I do anything? How could I have just stood there? I could've at least tried to stop it!  
  
No. I gave myself a mental slap across the cheeks. There was nothing I could've done. I was three years old, and scared half out of my wits! Even if I had been brave (and stupid) enough to interfere, I'd have most likely been killed faster than they were!  
  
I heard my father's last words in my head again. "You can't get rid of us. No matter what you do, we'll still be here to fight you, Magneto." Then I knew what he'd meant. He was talking about me, because I was still alive, and they'd always be beside me, guiding me and protecting me. I was their child, and as long as one has children, he or she cannot die. At least according to the last lines of a sonnet by William Shakespeare, "And nothing 'gainst time's scythe can make defense, save breed to brave him when he takes thee hence." Don't ask me where that revelation came from. It just sort of came to me, like someone had whispered it in my ear.  
  
Slowly, my sobbing eased into silent tears, and I smiled slightly. For the first time in my life, I felt like I wasn't alone. Despite the depressing history of the area, I felt a comforting presence surrounding me. Mom and Dad were here, and I could feel them lending me some of the courage that they had shown on that night thirteen years before.  
  
I slowly rose and walked over to the place where they had fallen. I kissed my hand and then touched the ground there, blessing it in my own way. Then one last tear rolled down my cheek, but it wasn't water. It was a tiny little flame. I was a bit startled, but I wasn't afraid. It was a flame of hope. 


	15. The Shapeshifter

"Well hello again." I jumped to my feet, startled by the voice behind me. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you." I turned around to see Ms Darkholme walking into the clearing. She sat down on the log and patted the space beside her. "Come, have a seat." A feeling of foreboding came over me, but I dismissed it as my imagination. Ms Darkholme seemed so nice! I wiped my face with my sleeves and sat down. As soon as I did, I saw Ms Darkholme's eyes go wide and she jumped back off of the log and stared at it. That was when I realized that I'd set the log on fire. I too jumped off of it. No! I thought, no don't burn! This is like my mom's monument!  
  
Then as suddenly as it had started, the fire went out. Ms. Darkholme made sure not to let me see her smirk, and then sat back down again. So did I, this time being careful not to set the log on fire. Oh man! I was glowing again, and the harder I tried to stop it, the brighter I got! Ms. Darkholme pretended not to notice. She looked around. "This place brings back such memories," she sighed.  
  
I looked up at her, startled. "Memories? What kinds of memories?" She looked at me and shrugged. "Just.memories." She's lucky that at the time I didn't realize she was teasing me! "I see by the look on your face that you have memories about this place too."  
  
That was when I started feeling progressively more uncomfortable. I looked at the ground and refused to look up at her. "I've been here before."  
  
"I see. So your memories here are not as pleasant as mine." I shook my head, but didn't look up. "Well, we have our differences, but we also have our similarities."  
  
"Similarities?" I still kept my eyes glued to the dirt. "What similarities?"  
  
She tapped me on the shoulder. "We're both mutants." I looked up at her, and as soon as I did, I fell off the log. "AHH!" Someone caught me before I hit the ground though. Ms Darkholme now looked exactly like me, right down to the last freckle! 


	16. Revelation

"OW!" yelled the person who'd caught me, and he dropped me.  
  
"Oof!" I had ignited again in his hands. Looking up at him from the ground, I recognized him immediately. He was one of the people I'd seen in the gym! He was tall and thin, with white hair and blue eyes, and there was a bit of a sneer on his face.  
  
The other me laughed. I started getting really creepy out. That was my face, my body, and my laugh. Only now, coming from Ms Darkholme, it sounded evil. Then she turned into her tall, blue self.  
  
I stood up and glared the white-haired boy and concentrated. A jet of flames shot straight at him, but he dodged it so fast that I didn't even see him!  
  
"Not bad, Princess, but you've got to be faster than that to hit Quicksilver!" Okay. This guy was toast! I did it again, and again, but he kept dodging it.  
  
"C'mon, Red, just admit it. I'm too fast for ya."  
  
"What did you say?" I was seeing red.literally!  
  
"You heard me. I'm too fast. You're too slow!" That was not something I was used to hearing. I was very fast! I just wasn't super fast like he was.  
  
Then he started taunting me by running circles around me. I grinned. He may have been fast, but he sure wasn't all that bright! I stuck my leg out and tripped him and he fell flat on his face. "OW! Hey!" I laughed at him, but only until Ms Darkholme grabbed my wrists from behind and twisted both arms behind my back. I tried to burn her, but it didn't work. I wasn't one hundred percent sure how to do it yet.  
  
"Quit clowning around, Pietro! And you quit squirming! All you have to do is cooperate and you'll be fine."  
  
"Cooperate?" I put on a blank look, "What does that mean?"  
  
She was about to answer when a few of the people from the gym, lead by the same flying guy in the helmet and cape, entered the clearing. I could feel my skin starting to get hot again and I heard a few grunts of determination from Ms Darkholme as she tried to hold on.  
  
"It's all right, Mystique. You can let go," he said. She let go and sighed with relief, looking at her scorched hands. I was about to run, but apparently the caped man had other plans. Metal bars flew straight at me from three directions and pinned me up against a tree.  
  
"Calm down, for Pete's sake. You're going on like a mouse caught in a trap!"  
  
"Gee, I wonder why," I retorted.  
  
"My goodness, you're a wiry one, aren't you? Hold still! All this struggling is only wasting your energy!"  
  
I stopped moving and concentrated for a short moment, and then quickly opened my eyes so that he wouldn't realize what I had done.  
  
"What do you people want from me?" I demanded. I had given up on trying to muscle my way out.  
  
"From you?" said the man with a familiar laugh, "We don't want anything from you. What we want is to give you answers. Answers that we know you want."  
  
"Well I don't want answers! Last time I got answers that I thought I wanted, well, we won't go there but I don't want answers! Who are you anyway?"  
  
"I thought you didn't want answers," said Ms Darkholme.  
  
"Excuse me, but I don't remember inviting you into this conversation," I snapped. Hey, I was having a bad day!  
  
The man suddenly squinted at me, like he was trying to see something. He held out his hand, and I felt the clap on my necklace undo itself. My necklace flew into his waiting hand, and there was nothing I could do about it since I couldn't move my arms.  
  
"Give that back!" I shrieked.  
  
He ignored me, and just stared at it for a long moment. Then he looked back at me. "I remember this now. And I remember you!"  
  
"WHO ARE YOU?" I repeated, again starting to see red.  
  
"I can answer that for you, Katrina, and so much more. Not only can I tell you who I am, but also who you are."  
  
I didn't say anything. I kept lying to myself and saying that I didn't want to know, but I really did. I wanted to know my parents' names. I wanted to know my real last name. I wanted to know why my parents had been killed. I did want to know.  
  
"You are Katrina May Lehnsherr," he continued, "the daughter of Gale and Jeff Lehnsherr. I am known as Magneto."  
  
Before I could react, I heard a shout. "LEAVE MY SISTER ALONE!" and Randy and Gwen burst into the clearing. In almost no time at all, they too were pinned to the trees on either side of me.  
  
Gwen seemed to recognize Magneto immediately. "YOU!" She froze over again and I watched her eyes start glowing light blue. I'm pretty sure that the same thing had been happening in my eyes, except that mine were red. That would explain why I was seeing red.  
  
Magneto looked at her and said with a bit of that laughter in his voice, "So nice of you to join us, Gweneviere!"  
  
"Gwen, you know him?"  
  
"Of course I know him! He killed my mom and dad!"  
  
"He WHAT?" I looked at him angrily. "What, do you just go around killing random married couples or something?"  
  
He looked at me in surprise. "Of course not! You mean you don't know?"  
  
"What don't we know?" I asked cautiously.  
  
He laughed again. "Rina May Lehnsherr, I'd like to introduce you to Gwen Alice Lehnsherr, your sister." 


	17. Answers

My jaw dropped. No way! She couldn't be my sister! She was my best friend! That was all! Besides, we had bigger problems.  
  
Gwen, however, decided to pipe up and speak her extremely ticked-off mind. "Excuse me, but I only have one sister," she retorted, "And you killed her when you killed my parents!" At this point, Randy just looked totally lost.  
  
He looked at me. "Did I now? Well then, just so you don't go on completely hating me, I'll prove to you that that's not true, Gwen. Close your eyes and remember your sister."  
  
"I'm not doing anything you tell me to!"  
  
"I don't think you're in much of a position to argue, now are you?"  
  
"Let Rina and Randy go! They have nothing to do with this!"  
  
"Oh but that's where you're wrong, Gweneviere. Randy may be rather insignificant right now, but Rina has just as much, if not more to do with this than you do. You see, as I've already explained to your sister, I'm not here to harm you. I'm here to give you answers."  
  
"Tell you what," said Gwen. I had never seen this side of her before! She was just as steamed as I was for a change! I looked over at her and saw that her eyes were glowing an eerie blue. "Why don't you just take your answers and shove them up your wazoo! Because I don't want to have to see your butt-ugly face unless it's a part of your butt-ugly corpse!" Was this the same Gwen I knew? Holy cow!  
  
"Well now! That wasn't polite!" he said.  
  
"Deal with it!" she snapped.  
  
"Come now, since we're all here together and no one's going anywhere for a while, why don't you just humor me. It's not like you have anything else to do. Close your eyes. And you, Rina. Gwen, I want you to remember everything you can possibly remember about your sister." Neither of us were entirely sure why we obeyed, but we did.  
  
A picture slowly began to take shape in our minds, originating in hers and spreading to mind, just as Magneto described it. "Remember the blazing red hair, the pale face covered with freckles, those big, adorable brown eyes that could belong only to such a small carefree child. Now imagine that little girl a year later. She's grown up a bit, hasn't she? Now five years later, and now ten. Now thirteen. See what she's become? She's taller. She is no longer a cute little toddler, but a beautiful young woman. Her eyes are no longer wide with joy and innocence like that of a young girl, but have been filled with pain. She bears many scars from her dark, shadowy past, and yet she lives on, too determined to let herself be destroyed by it. Yes, she is hurt every now and then, but comes through stronger for it. Do you have a clear picture in your mind of this person?"  
  
We did. I watched as the girl grew up and lost her innocence about thrice as fast as most kids, until she had reached the stage she was at now.  
  
"Good. Now open your eyes, and Gwen, look at Rina, and I guarantee you that all your doubts in my words will be gone."  
  
We each did so, and the expression on her face as she looked at me was burned into my memory forever. 


	18. Explanations

"Excuse me," I chimed in, "I hate to interrupt like this, but I was just wondering something."  
  
"Yes?" he said, turning his attention back to me. I felt a chill run up my spine as he did so, followed by a wave of hot anger and hatred like I'd never felt before. I didn't even realize that I had raised my voice until after I said the words.  
  
"Do you realize how sick and twisted you are?"  
  
"But I'm not finished yet, Rina. I can tell just by looking at you that there are more questions you want answered, and that is not among them. Go ahead. Ask me anything you want about yourself, and I can answer it. I doubt anyone else can do that for you."  
  
Consumed with rage and without thinking, I blurted out, "Why were my parents killed?"  
  
He nodded as if to show approval. "That is a legitimate question. Your parents, Gale and Jeff, were a fine young couple who met under my employment."  
  
"They worked for you?" I interrupted. There was no way that my parents would've done anything for this psychopath!  
  
"Yes, Katrina, they did. That's how they met, and they fell in love and got married (something I didn't object to in the least) and they."  
  
"What kind of work did they do for you?" asked Gwen, who was having as much trouble grasping this concept as I was.  
  
"The same thing these fine people all do," he replied matter-of-factly, indicating all the freaks around us. "They were both mutants, like us. You father was known as Flytrap and your mother as Jetstream. Two of the best I had. They were more devoted to the cause of mutant liberation than any of the others, until after their wedding. Their priorities started to change, and they began focusing more on each other than the cause. Then one day, they just up and left. We did not know why and we were greatly upset by this. Of course, now we know. It was because Gale was pregnant with Gweneviere, and they did not want her to be exposed to this sort of life. They wanted to protect her. And soon they began to fight against us and protect the Homo sapiens. They had begun to share Charles's little fantasy of the Homo sapiens living in peace with and accepting the race of Homo superior, or mutants, as they're more commonly known. They had turned against me, and in doing so, they had turned against their own kind. We could not allow that. It took us three long years to track them down, and when we did, we were caught completely off guard that they had children! We tried to help you. We tried to take you in and care for you and raise you, but we."  
  
I cut him off. I'd heard enough. "You killed them for wanting to at least try and have peace? And for trying to protect their children? Tried to help us my eye! That's why we.or at least I was hospitalized the moment I got into town. You are so full of it! I can't believe that any relative of mine would work for someone like you!"  
  
"Ah, speaking of which, there's something else I think you ought to know. Care to hear it?"  
  
I grumbled to myself, "Do we have a choice?"  
  
"Aside from each other, you two do have one living relative remaining."  
  
My ears pricked up. For a moment, my curiosity made me forget whom I was speaking with. "Really? Who?"  
  
"Your father had a brother."  
  
"Yeah right!" said Gwen, "If we had an uncle, then why didn't he come find us at the foster home?"  
  
"Well there's an easy question. He thought you were dead. And even if he didn't, would you really want him to have come looking for you? From what I see today, your uncle has become your enemy."  
  
That's when it hit me. "It's you.you're our uncle!" 


	19. Teamwork

He gave a slight bow. "Naturally."  
  
"Let me get this straight. You would kill your own brother and sister-in- law, and nieces, just because they stopped working for you?"  
  
"Oh no! There's so much more to it than that. If you'd just hear me out, I could tell you why I did it. I didn't want to, and I did it with such a heavy heart."  
  
I interrupted once again, and indicated all of Magneto's little henchmen. "How gullible are these people that they buy into all your bull? You have no remorse whatsoever over what you did to our parents, or to us!"  
  
"Now, don't be so hasty! Whatever makes you say that?"  
  
"You laughed." I narrowed my eyes at him. "You laughed when you killed them. And you laughed as you tried to kill us!" Between the two of us, Gwen and I were able to recall every gruesome detail of what had happened: All the sounds, the sights, even the smells.  
  
Then suddenly, Randy spoke up, but it didn't sound like Randy. "Let the young ones go, Eric." Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at him. He looked different somehow. All the confusion on his face was gone, and there was something in his eyes that just.well, he didn't seem to be himself. That's the best way I can describe it.  
  
Magneto looked at him for a moment and looked around for something. "Come now, Charles, they're my concern, not yours." he called to no one.  
  
"What do you want with them?"  
  
Rina, it's me, came the voice of Professor Xavier in my head. Listen! Don't try to fight him. Try to stay calm. Keep control! We'll be there in a moment to get you out of there.  
  
I tried to say something back, but he was gone. However, in my attempt to open my mind to him, the spirits of my mom and dad, which filled the clearing flooded into my head. Then I knew what we had to do.  
  
I stopped listening to what Randy and Magneto were saying to each other and focused on Gwen, and explained my plan to her telepathically.  
  
It's a long shot, but I'm not coming up with anything better.  
  
I needed to work my arm free. While I was struggling, Xavier and his team showed up, with some new faces that I had never seen before as well as Kurt, Kitty, and Jean.  
  
Jean obviously saw me struggling. She looked right at me and placed her fingertips on her temples. I saw that both she and Magneto were struggling. They were fighting each other. He was trying to keep me pinned while she tried to pull the metal off of me. Eventually, she managed to get it barely loose enough for just long enough for me to pull me right arm free. She fell to her knees and the metal snapped right back into place. But I had what I needed: a free hand.  
  
I reached over, hoping that no one would notice, and laid my free hand on the metal that held Gwen to the tree. I focused my mind on my goal and became oblivious to everything else. I pushed all words but one out of my mind: heat. I imagined the red-hot coals around a campfire, and the crimson glow of a hot branding iron. I felt the heat in my hands as I heated the metal, and signaled Gwen. NOW! 


	20. The Institute

I pulled my hand away immediately and flinched. There was a deafening crash as Gwen froze the metal that I had just heated, and it shattered. She was free. We repeated the process with Yours Truly, but not Randy. One of Xavier's students had shot some sort of lasers out of his eyes and blasted him free.  
  
I'm not sure exactly what made us think of it, but Gwen and I, completely oblivious to all that was happening around us, walked toward each other and joined hands. There was a huge swirl of wind around us and we heard Magneto yell out in surprise as he became entangled in tree branches. That was Mom and Dad's way of letting us know that they were there with us. We closed our eyes and focused on Magneto. His yelling grew louder and louder until it became screams of pain and rage. It became harder and harder to concentrate. However, Gwen and I, through the connection, managed to keep each other going. I heard myself grunt in the effort, and started feeling a little pain in my head. I tried to tough it out, but when Gwen's added to it, it became too much. Magneto's screaming was suddenly silenced as we slumped to the ground, exhausted. The last thing I remember before loosing consciousness was the silence.  
  
When I woke up, I was in a room with Jean, Kurt, Kitty, and Randy all leaning over me.  
  
"Vow!" exclaimed Kurt, "How did you two do zat? I mean, zat vas awesome ze vay you guys froze 'im like zat! And ze ice vas on fire an' everysing! Very dramtic! Zere gut!"  
  
"What?" I asked. Then I suddenly remembered everything that had happened and sat up like a bolt. "Where is he? Where's Gwen?"  
  
"Right there, Rina. It's good to see you awake again." I knew that voice by now. Professor Xavier. Everyone cleared a path for him as he approached me in his wheelchair. I looked beside me and saw Gwen on the bed next to mine with her eyes closed and not moving.  
  
"Is she.?"  
  
"No, Rina. She's fine. She's just exhausted, like you were. It's just taking her a bit longer to recover. How are you feeling?"  
  
I didn't answer. "Where's Magneto?"  
  
He frowned and shook his head. "I wish I could be sure. The brotherhood called a retreat after you fainted, and carried him off somewhere. Although the flaming ice was a very impressive maneuver, it won't hold him for long. He's still out there somewhere, which is why I recommend that you and Gwen stay here at 'Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters.' I'm not saying you can't leave, but here you will be among friends. Fellow mutants with secrets much like your own. Here, you will be well protected."  
  
I knew I shouldn't have taken offense at that, and I really didn't, but since I have always been the tough girl, I pretended to. "Protection? I don't need any protection!" I could tell he didn't believe me.  
  
"Indeed. Well, be that as it may, Rina, there's another thing that we can offer you if you stay here. Your pyrokenetic abilities are very powerful, and when you get angry, they become destructive because you have not yet learned to control them. Here, we can teach you to harness your powers and use them for the good of humanity, and fight for the same type of peace that your parents fought for, and I can help you learn to control your temper. I've also noticed by asking around that you have been having reoccurring nightmares. I can help you with that as well."  
  
I wanted to accept. I really did, but I had to put on a stubborn act. I couldn't let him think I was that easy to convince. It wasn't that I didn't trust him. I trusted him more than I ever trusted anyone in my life, save Gwen. I guess it was just habitual. I couldn't let anybody think that I trusted people, because I had learned that trust made me vulnerable. Trust makes it easy to deceive. And when a person is easy to deceive, it makes it incredibly easy to hurt that person.  
  
"I can handle it. Believe me. I."  
  
"Why do you think like that, Rina? Do you want the same sort of peace that your parents fought and died for?"  
  
"Well.I.Yeah, I do."  
  
"Well, trust is the key ingredient for that kind of peace. And where better to start trusting than here, among people like yourself? Let us help you, Rina. Think of all we have to offer you. A home. Protection. Friends, and the one thing you've been searching for all your life, but have never been able to find: Understanding. Think of all you can learn from us! And possibly, us from you! Give us a chance. Let us try."  
  
I was a little annoyed, but sort of glad that he had gone into my mind without permission. At least that way I didn't have to try and hide it anymore. But I gave my response in a skeptical tone, so that the others didn't think I was.you know.  
  
"Okay.I'll give it a shot, but if I change my mind, I'm outta here. Deal?"  
  
The professor sort of smiled as he shook my hand. "Deal. Welcome to the X- Men, Rina McGrath." 


	21. Epilogue

So that's the story. Gwen and I have been with the X-Men for almost two years now. The professor has daily sessions in a simulator that we call "The Danger Room" where we go to train with the other students. And the professor works with me every day on my nightmares and sometimes on my temper. I'm getting a lot better at controlling myself, and I've been having nightmares less and less often. And not to mention that Gwen and I have never felt like we belonged so much! We've come to trust these people, and they trust us. That's okay, though, because now that we've been with them for a while, I know that these are the kinds of friends who won't let us down. And that trust that I've been so afraid of my entire life turned out to be the best part of life at "Charles Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters."  
  
THE END.  
  
Or rather.  
  
THE TURNING POINT. 


End file.
